Search

Radial imaging techniques, such as projection-reconstruction (PR), are used in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for dynamic imaging, angiography, and short-T2 imaging. They are less sensitive to flow and motion artifacts, and support fast imaging with short echo times. However, aliasing and streaking artifacts are two main sources which degrade radial imaging quality. For a given fixed number of k-space projections, data distributions along radial and angular directions will influence the level of aliasing and streaking artifacts. Conventional radial k-space sampling trajectory introduces an aliasing artifact at the first principal ring of point spread function (PSF). In this paper, a shaking projection (SP) k-space sampling trajectory was proposed to reduce aliasing artifacts in MR images. SP sampling trajectory shifts the projection alternately along the k-space center, which separates k-space data in the azimuthal direction. Simulations based on conventional and SP sampling trajectories were compared with the same number projections. A significant reduction of aliasing artifacts was observed using the SP sampling trajectory. These two trajectories were also compared with different sampling frequencies. A SP trajectory has the same aliasing character when using half sampling frequency (or half data) for reconstruction. SNR comparisons with different white noise levels show that these two trajectories have the same SNR character. In conclusion, the SP trajectory can reduce the aliasing artifact without decreasing SNR and also provide a way for undersampling reconstruction. Furthermore, this method can be applied to three-dimensional (3D) hybrid or spherical radial k-space sampling for a more efficient reduction of aliasing artifacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In situ angle dispersive synchrotron X-ray diffraction and Raman scattering measurements under pressure are employed to study the structural evolution of Cu4Bi4S9 nanoribbons, which are fabricated by using a facile solvothermal method. Both experiments show that a structural phase transition occurs near 14.5 GPa, and there is a pressure-induced reversible amorphization at about 25.6 GPa. The electrical transport property of a single Cu4Bi4S9 nanoribbon under different pressures is also investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical transport properties and structures of Y2O3/ZrO2 solid solution have been studied under high pressure up to 23.2 GPa by means of in situ impedance spectroscopy and x-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. In the impedance spectra, it can be found that the pressure-dependent resistance of Y2O3/ZrO2 presents two different change trends before and after 13.3 GPa, but the crystal symmetry still remains stable in the cubic structure revealed by the XRD measurement and Rietveld refinement. The pressure dependence of the lattice constant and unit cell volume shows that the Y2O3/ZrO2 solid solution undergoes an isostructural phase transition at 13.1 GPa, which is responsible for the abnormal change in resistance. By fitting the volume data with the Birch–Murnaghan equation of state, we found that the bulk modulus B0 of the Y2O3/ZrO2 solid solution increases by 131.9% from 125.2 GPa to 290.3 GPa due to the pressure-induced isostructural phase transition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural phase transitions of bismuth under rapid compression has been investigated in a dynamic diamond anvil cell using time-resolved synchrotron x-ray diffraction. As the pressure increases, the transformations from phase I, to phase II, to phase III, and then to phase V have been observed under different compression rates at 300 K. Compared with static compression results, no new phase transition sequence appears under rapid compression at compression rate from 0.20 GPa/s to 183.8 GPa/s. However, during the process across the transition from phase III to phase V, the volume fraction of product phase as a function of pressure can be well fitted by a compression-rate-dependent sigmoidal curve. The resulting parameters indicate that the activation energy related to this phase transition, as well as the onset transition pressure, shows a compression-rate-dependent performance. A strong dependence of over-pressurization on compression rate occurs under rapid compression. A formula for over-pressure has been proposed, which can be used to quantify the over-pressurization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lithium–sulfur (Li–S) batteries have received more and more attention because of higher specific capacity and energy density of sulfur than current lithium–ion batteries. However, the low electrical conductivity of sulfur and its discharge product, and also the high dissolution of polysulfides restrict the Li–S battery practical applications. To improve their performances, in this work, we fabricate a novel free-standing, curled and partially reduced graphene oxide (CPrGO for short) network and combine it with sulfur to form a CPrGO–S composite as a cathode for Li–S battery. With sulfur content of 60 wt%, the free-standing CPrGO–S composite network delievers an initial capacity of 988.9 mAh·g−1. After 200 cycles, it shows a stable capacity of 841.4 mAh·g−1 at 0.2 C, retaining about 85% of the initial value. The high electrochemical performance demonstrates that the CPrGO–S network has great potential applications in energy storage system. Such improved properties can be ascribed to the unique free-standing and continous CPrGO–S network which has high specific surface area and good electrical conductivity. In addition, oxygen-containing groups on the partially reduced graphene oxide are beneficial to preventing the polysulfides from dissolving into electrolyte and can mitigate the “shuttle effect”. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid quantum system of negatively charged nitrogen−vacancy (NV−) centers in diamond and superconducting qubits provide the possibility to extend the performances of both systems. In this work, we numerically simulate the coupling strength between NV− ensembles and superconducting flux qubits and obtain a lower bound of 1016 cm−3 for NV− concentration to achieve a sufficiently strong coupling of 10 MHz when the gap between NV-ensemble and flux qubit is 0. Moreover, we create NV− ensembles in different types of diamonds by 14N+ and 12C+ ion implantation, electron irradiation, and high temperature annealing. We obtain an NV− concentration of 1.05 × 1016 cm−3 in the diamond with 1-ppm nitrogen impurity, which is expected to have a long coherence time for the low nitrogen impurity concentration. This shows a step toward performance improvement of flux qubit-NV− hybrid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conventional multiple breath-hold two-dimensional (2D) balanced steady-state free precession (SSFP) presents many difficulties in cardiac cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Recently, a self-gated free-breathing three-dimensional (3D) SSFP technique has been proposed as an alternative in many studies. However, the accuracy and effectiveness of self-gating signals have been barely studied before. Since self-gating signals are crucially important in image reconstruction, a systematic study of self-gating signals and comparison with external monitored signals are needed.Previously developed self-gated free-breathing 3D SSFP techniques are used on twenty-eight healthy volunteers. Both electrocardiographic (ECG) and respiratory bellow signals are also acquired during the scan as external signals. Self-gating signal and external signal are compared by trigger and gating window. Gating window is proposed to evaluate the accuracy and effectiveness of respiratory self-gating signal. Relative deviation of the trigger and root-mean-square-deviation of the cycle duration are calculated. A two-tailed paired t-test is used to identify the difference between self-gating and external signals. A Wilcoxon signed rank test is used to identify the difference between peak and valley self-gating triggers.The results demonstrate an excellent correlation (P = 0, R > 0.99) between self-gating and external triggers. Wilcoxon signed rank test shows that there is no significant difference between peak and valley self-gating triggers for both cardiac (H = 0, P > 0.10) and respiratory (H = 0, P > 0.44) motions. The difference between self-gating and externally monitored signals is not significant (two-tailed paired-sample t-test: H = 0, P > 0.90).The self-gating signals could demonstrate cardiac and respiratory motion accurately and effectively as ECG and respiratory bellow. The difference between the two methods is not significant and can be explained. Furthermore, few ECG trigger errors appear in some subjects while these errors are not found in self-gating signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A climate network of extreme rainfall over eastern Asia is constructed for the period of 1971–2000, employing the tools of complex networks and a measure of nonlinear correlation called event synchronization (ES). Using this network, we predict the extreme rainfall for several cases without delay and with n-day delay (1 ≤ n ≤ 10). The prediction accuracy can reach 58% without delay, 21% with 1-day delay, and 12% with n-day delay (2 ≤ n ≤ 10). The results reveal that the prediction accuracy is low in years of a weak east Asia summer monsoon (EASM) or 1 year later and high in years of a strong EASM or 1 year later. Furthermore, the prediction accuracy is higher due to the many more links that represent correlations between different grid points and a higher extreme rainfall rate during strong EASM years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]